Educating the public on the intersection of the death penalty and severe mental illness.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

More on Panetti Ruling

In his order denying Scott Panetti's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Judge Sparks further ordered that Panetti's execution shall be stayed pending the outcome of the appeal in this case.Here's more on the ruling from The Austin Chronicle ("Panetti Sane Enough to Die," April 4, 2008):

"Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti is 'seriously mentally ill' and has been for some time – in fact, as U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruled on March 26, he was 'under the influence of this severe mental illness' when, in 1992, he murdered his in-laws, Joe and Amanda Alvarado, in Fredericksburg and remained ill 'when he insisted on representing himself at trial.' Yet Panetti is sane enough to be executed, Sparks ruled. His 'delusions do not prevent his rational understanding of the causal connection between those murders and his death sentence, and he in fact has such an understanding,' Sparks wrote. Indeed, Panetti's understanding 'is most clearly demonstrated by his rationally articulated position that the punishment is unjustified: He believes the state should not execute him because he was mentally ill when he committed the murders.'Sparks ruled similarly in 2004, finding Panetti sane enough to die, but the U.S. Supreme Court remanded the case, opining that the previous handling of Panetti's case was 'flawed' and 'too restrictive' to satisfy the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments. In deeming Panetti sane enough for execution, the courts had only considered whether Panetti was 'aware' that he faced execution and that the state said he would be executed because he murdered the Alvarados. The problem, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court majority, is that Panetti doesn't actually believe that to be the case. Rather, Panetti has long said that the real reason the state wants him dead is to prevent him from preaching the 'gospel of the Lord King.' The question, in part, Kennedy wrote, was whether the effects of mental illness can 'so impair' a prisoner's concept of reality so that he 'cannot reach a rational understanding of the reasons for the execution.'The Supremes punted the Panetti case back to Sparks, tasking him with wading through the legal morass and taking a first crack at defining a standard against which to measure mental eligibility for execution – a standard that might ultimately be applied to other similarly situated inmates. In his ruling, however, Sparks raises additional questions about how to define and apply a broader standard – including wondering about the limits of making sanity determinations for an inmate like Panetti, whose impairment is 'cyclical.' In such a case, does a 'period of improved lucidity' mark 'him for death, or has he not 'regained' his sanity in a lucid period in the same way as a person who has made some stable improvement or recovery in mental condition can be said to have 'regained sanity'?' Sparks asks. 'The court is concerned by these questions for the future, but they are not the work of the day.'Panetti's case will now be forwarded to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court for Appeals for review."

Contributors

Facts about Mental Illness and the Death Penalty

· The State of Texas ranks 47th nationally in terms of per capita spending on mental healthcare, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. It ranks 1st in executions (more than 400 since 1982).

· Around 30 percent of those incarcerated in Texas prison or jails have been clients of the state’s public mental health system. (TX Department of Criminal Justice)

· The U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited the death penalty for people with mental retardation, but it has not excluded offenders with severe mental illness from this punishment. Texas law also does not adequately protect those with diminished capacity from a death sentence.

· At least 20 individuals with documented diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other persistent and severe mental illnesses have been executed by the State of Texas. Many had sought treatment before the commission of their crimes, but were denied long-term care.